


Book One; Start Over

by ezraaaa



Series: Lena Nemann and the Branches Of Time [1]
Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Awesome Pepper Potts, BAMF Loki (Marvel), BAMF Pepper Potts, BAMF Tony Stark, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/M, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Original Character(s), Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Soulmates, Protective Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 07:42:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29680680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ezraaaa/pseuds/ezraaaa
Summary: "How's your day going?""Well, no one died""Those are your standards?"---Lena Neumann was messed up. Between the trauma of being one of HYDRA's trained assassins, to being forced to help SHIELD after they saved her from the clutches of HYDRA, she doesn't have time to figure herself out.She isn't ready to face the world, especially not when it involves superheroes, secret organisations, and a certain God who won't stop looking at her.
Relationships: Loki (Marvel)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Lena Nemann and the Branches Of Time [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2205717





	Book One; Start Over

**Author's Note:**

> TW: references to past torture in the first half of the flashback

_ **July 19th 1945** _

_Lena Neumann couldn't breathe._

_Her knees buckled as she fell to the floor, a dull pain flooding through her legs. Her breathing was coming out too fast, and she could feel the feeling of suffocation creeping up her throat. She blinked away the tears in her eyes, not from sadness but pain and fear. Pain from the amount of training she was being forced through, and fear from what the Agents would do to her when they realised she was too tired to do anything else. She glared at the concrete floor beneath her, trying to will the feeling of tiredness away, to no avail._

_"Get up, Agent. The day isn't over"_

_And there it was. The voice pierced through the already broken speakers, and Lena winced at the feedback that was produced. She attempted to stand, to carry on, but her legs wouldn't let her. They shook with every movement she tried to make, and she fell onto her hands. Her whimper was followed by the laughter of the other agents in the room, and she winced again. Lena took a deep breath, willing herself to not fall as she finally stood, facing the imposing man at the other end of the room. He was watching her with curiosity like she was an exhibit in a museum or a piece of art. It was a look that sent shivers up her spine and caused her legs to wobble all over again._

_"Again"_

_He motioned for the other agents in the room to start fighting the girl again, all of them slowly closing in on the brunette. There was no point in arguing; they wouldn't listen to her, they'd probably put her back in the chair, and use all of those things on her all over again. Multiple scars up her body showed that, and she would have preferred being forced to fight over and over. The agents came for her all at once, something that had never happened before. Lena was used to fighting them one at a time, not altogether. She struggled to fend them off, but she managed to knock a few of them over. Somehow, she had managed to back herself into a corner, and she had four agents coming for her._

_She panicked._

_Her legs moved before she could think about it. She swung her left leg out, taking an agent's legs out before she slid underneath the one on her left. She elbowed him in the head before he could get to her, knocking him down. Two left. She tried to think on her feet, although the two were throwing punches at her so it was difficult. She managed to kick one of them out of the way, but she was stopped in her tracks by an arm around her neck. She struggled for breath, wheezes leaving her as she tried to fight back. Eventually, she gave up, signalling to the man that she was done. He released her, and she took in gulps of air, her eyes prickling with unshed tears._

_"Better. But you're still weak. You don't pay attention to your surroundings, and it will eventually get you killed"_

_Lena bit her tongue. She knew nothing good would come from arguing, so she simply nodded with a grimace. The tall man approached her, his usual look of curiosity written all over his face. He took her sweaty face in his hand, and Lena fought the urge to turn away from him._

_"Take her to him. She's ready"_

_She didn't see the agents behind her, but she felt their grips on her arms and the syringe in her neck._

_"I'll see you when you wake up, little mouse"_

**─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───**

_ **April 4th 2012  
** _

Lena sighed softly as she walked through the half-empty SHIELD base, not paying much attention to the conversation going on around her. She was too busy staring at the file in her hands, quickly skim-reading about the Tesseract. She didn't know much about it, only what she had picked up from HYDRA over the decades, and that wasn't much to go off of. All she knew was that her abilities and the Tesseract shared an energy output, which meant she was a valuable asset if anything was to go really bad. 

"If we can't control the Tesseract's energy, there may not be a minimum safe distance."

Lena's head shot up at Maria's words, and she grimaced. She was right. They couldn't keep it under control in a secret laboratory, so how the hell were they going to keep it safe from the rest of the world. Her eyes flickered over to Fury, who was still walking on as though Maria hadn't spoken. 

"I need you to make sure Phase 2 prototypes are shipped out." 

"Sir, is that really a priority right now?"

"Until such a time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on. Clear out the tech below. Every piece of Phase 2 on a truck and gone."

Lena watched as Maria bit back a remark, making her way past Fury and taking two agents with her. Fury continued walking into the lab, Lena following him closely. Fury immediately made his way over to Dr Selvig, and Lena moved away from them, her eyes transfixed on the blue cube at the end of the room. It was shooting out small sparks of energy, everyone keeping their distance from it in case it was to go crazy. Lena was tempted to move closer, but she caught Fury's eye and decided to stand back. 

"No contacts, no I.M.'s. If there was any tampering, sir, it wasn't at this end."

"At this end?"

"Yeah, the cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right? The doors open from both sides."

Lena didn't have time to let Clint's words sink in before the Tesseract began glowing an abnormally bright blue, shaking the whole facility and opening some sort of portal. Lena took several steps back, readying herself for any possible attacks. She didn't know what the cube was capable of, but she wasn't willing to risk anything. The portal opened out, stars visible from all angles. Lena would have been intrigued if it weren't for the possible impending danger. A sudden gust of blue energy billowed out from the portal, pushing everyone back slightly. Lena covered her eyes, although after the gust was over she removed her hand, her eyes snapping back to the Tesseract. Except, it was being blocked by someone. And this someone looked dangerous.

"Sir, please put down the spear."

Fury's words echoed around the room and the man looked down at his weapon before firing a blast of blue energy at Fury. Clint tackled him to the floor and Lena dived out of the way and under a table to avoid being hit. Gunshots filled the room, the sounds of pained grunts following soon after. Lena took in a sharp breath before she crawled out from under the desk, holding her breath as she watched the man move around the room. She stared anxiously, her eyes widening at the sight of all of the SHIELD agents lying dead on the ground. Lena moved so she was crouched next to the desk, making sure she was still hidden, but so she could still see. Her eyes widened as Clint went for the mystery man, gun in hand. The man caught Clint's arm, disarming him and staring at Clint with some kind of fascination. 

"You have heart"

Lena watched as he raised his spear and pressed it onto Clint's chest, staring in shock as a blue colour took over Clint's eyes before he placed his gun back in its holster. The man smirked at his handy work and began doing the same thing to the other agents in the room. Lena held her breath again as he got dangerously close to her desk. He stopped in his tracks, turning his head in her direction, a cunning smirk on his lips. However, he was distracted by Fury before he could do much else. Lena zoned out of their conversation for a moment, her eyes falling onto the energy that was trapped in the ceiling. It looked like a mass of blue flame, waiting to burst. The facility was still shaking every so often, bits of debris falling from the roof above her. 

"Freedom. Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart...You will know peace."

Loki's words snapped Lena from her trance, and she found herself agreeing. She cursed herself for it, but he wasn't wrong. Lena watched as he pressed his spear to Selvig's chest, watching as his eyes became that eery blue colour.

"Yeah, you say peace, I kind of think you mean the other thing."

Fury's words cut through the tense air, and Lena considered laughing. For a moment, she remembered what it was like to be on the receiving end of Fury's words; it hadn't been very long since he had been working day in day out to get her back to some kind of normal. 

**"** Sir, Director Fury is stalling. This place is about to blow. Drop a hundred feet of rock on us. He means to bury us."

Clint stepped towards the group, gesturing up to the blue cloud above them. It was sparking out of control, and the building was falling apart more rapidly than before. Lena was dodging parts of the ceiling whilst still trying to stay hidden. She was doing well, all things considered, but she wasn't going to last much longer if she stayed behind that table. She took in a deep breath, glancing over at Fury and the group of controlled agents before she made her move. 

Lena pulled her gun from her holster, kicking against the wall as hard as she could. She slid across the floor rather quickly, managing to take two of the controlled agents down before she came to a halt, a few feet away from Fury. Loki stared at her with a smirk and Lena simply glared. She didn't hear what Selvig had said, and she regrettably screamed when Clint shot Fury. Her breath caught in her throat, and she struggled to pull herself up off the floor. The controlled agents took the Tesseract from Fury, and Loki stared at Lena as he made his way towards her, two agents behind him to make sure nothing happened. 

"You. You're different from the rest"

His words made her freeze in her spot. He watched in amusement as the young woman took in a sharp breath, glancing down at her shoes with a soft nod.

_**"You could say that"** _

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Hello friends, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I'm imagining Lena's personality as a mix of Mystique and Steve Rogers, but I'd love to hear your opinions!
> 
> Also, Lena's powers are going to be fully explained as the story goes on; they're there for a reason and aren't just so she seems important!
> 
> \- Ezra :)


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